In 2025, fire departments serving Carpentersville responded to 232 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,152 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.2M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 193 | — | |
| 2022 | 220 | +14.0% | |
| 2023 | 295 | +34.1% | |
| 2024 | 212 | -28.1% | |
| 2025 | 232 | +9.4% |
For the 61 building fires Carpentersville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 163 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 23 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 12 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 30.7% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Carpentersville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 51 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carpentersville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carpentersville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
12 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,341 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 750 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Equipment and vehicle use | 80 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 80 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 76 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Recreation and ceremony | 75 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 70 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 53 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 50 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 50 | 47.3 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Carpentersville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carpentersville.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.